Modern Passover Seder Songs

These songs have been gathered from far and near, and they should be enjoyed and sung
either at the end of the Seder. Feel free to insert them at a place that you and your Seder participants will
enjoy and find meaningful.

There's No Seder Like our Seder

(sung to the tune of "There's no Business like Show business")

There's no seder like our seder,
There's no seder I know.
Everything about it is halachic
Nothing that the Torah won't allow.
Listen how we read the whole Haggadah
It's all in Hebrew
'Cause we know how.

There's no Seder like our seder,
We tell a tale that is swell:
Moses took the people out into the heat
They baked the matzah
While on their feet
Now isn't that a story
That just can't be beat?
Let's go on with the show!

Take Us Out of Egypt

(sung to the tune of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game")

Take us out of Egypt
Free us from slavery
Bake us some matzah in a haste
Don't worry 'bout flavor--
Give no thought to taste.
Oh it's rush, rush, rush, to the Red Sea
If we don't cross it's a shame
For it's ten plagues,
Down and you're out
At the Pesach history game.

Les Miselijah

(to the tune of "Do you hear the people Sing" from "Les Miserables")

Do you hear the doorbell ring,
And it's a little after ten?
It can only be Elijah
Come to take a sip again.
He is feeling pretty fine
But in his head a screw is loose.
So perhaps instead of wine
We should only give him juice.

Elijah

(to the tune of "Maria")

Elijah!
I just saw the prophet Elijah.
And suddenly that name
Will never sound the same to me.
Elijah!
He came to our seder
Elijah!
He had his cup of wine,
But could not stay to dine
This year--
Elijah!
For your message all Jews are waiting:
That the time's come for peace
and not hating--
Elijah--
Next year we'll be waiting.
Elijah!

Just a Tad of Charoset

(to the tune of "Just a spoon full of sugar")

Chorus:

Just a tad of charoset helps the bitter herbs go down,
The bitter herbs go down, the bitter herbs go down.
Just a tad of charoset helps the bitter herbs go down,
In the most disguising way.

Oh, back in Egypt long ago,
The Jews were slaves under Pharaoh.
They sweat and toiled and labored
through the day.
So when we gather Pesach night,
We do what we think right.
Maror, we chew,
To feel what they went through.

Chorus

So after years of slavery
They saw no chance of being free.
Their suffering was the only life they knew.
But baby Moses grew up tall,
And said he'd save them all.
He did, and yet,
We swear we won't forget.
That......

Chorus

While the maror is being passed,
We all refill our water glass,
Preparing for the taste that turns us red.
Although maror seems full of minuses,
It sure does clear our sinuses.
But what's to do?
It's hard to be a Jew!!!

Chorus

Same Time Next Year

(to the tune of "Makin' Whoopee")

Another Pesach, another year,
The family seder with near and dear...
Our faces shining,
All thoughts of dining
Are put on hold now.
We hear four questions,
The answer given
Recalls the Jews from Egypt driven.
The ch'rain is bitter, (charoset better!)
Please pass the matzah.
Why is this evening different
From all the other nights?
This year the Jews all over
Are free to perform the rites.
A gorgeous dinner--who can deny it--
Won't make us thinner, to hell with diet!
It's such great cooking...
and no one's looking,
So just enjoy it.
Moving along at steady clip
E lijah enters, and takes a sip;
And then the singing with voices ringing
Our laughter mingling.
When singing about Chad GadYa.
Watch close or your place you'll lose,
For Echad Mi Yodea:
Which tune shall we use?
We pray next Pesach
We'll all be here.
It's a tradition...
Same time next year...
So fill it up now, the final cup now,
Next year at Nanny and Zayde's house

The Ballad of the Four Sons

(to the tune of "Clementine")

Said the father to his children,
"At the seder you will dine,
You will eat your fill of matzoh,
You will drink four cups of wine."

Now this father had no daughters,
But his sons they numbered four.
One was wise and one was wicked,
One was simple and a bore.

And the fourth was sweet and winsome,
he was young and he was small.
While his brothers asked the questions
he could scarcely speak at all.

Said the wise one to his father
"Would you please explain the laws?
Of the customs of the seder
Will you please explain the cause?"

And the father proudly answered,
"As our fathers ate in speed,
Ate the paschal lamb 'ere midnight
And from slavery were freed."

So we follow their example
And 'ere midnight must complete
All the seder and we should not
After 12 remain to eat.

Then did sneer the son so wicked
"What does all this mean to you?"
And the father's voice was bitter
As his grief and anger grew.

"If you yourself don't consider
As son of Israel,
Then for you this has no meaning
You could be a slave as well."

Then the simple son said simply
"What is this," and quietly
The good father told his offspring
"We were freed from slavery."

But the youngest son was silent
For he could not ask at all.
His bright eyes were bright with wonder
As his father told him all.

My dear children, heed the lesson
and remember evermore
What the father told his children
Told his sons that numbered four.

Pharaoh Doesn't Pay

(To the tune of "I've Been Working on the Railroad")

I've been working on these buildings;
Pharaoh doesn't pay.
I've been doing what he tells me
Like making bricks from clay.
Can't you hear the master calling,
"Hurry up, make a brick!"
Can't you feel the master hurt me
Until I'm feeling sick.
Oh is this a mess,
Oh is this a mess,
Oh is this a mess, for Jews, for Jews.
Oh is this a mess,
Oh is this a mess,
Oh is this a mess for Jews.
Someone's in the palace with Pharaoh
Someone's in the palace we know, ow, ow, ow,
Someone's in the palace with Pharaoh
Does he know they treat us so?
Keep singing work, work, work all day,
Work all day and then some more,
Work, work, work all day
Does he know they treat us so?

Pharaoh's Lament

(To the tune of "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider")

My river and my sun gods have always helped me rule.
Down came the plagues
And folks think I?m a fool.
Up come the slaves' God
And tells me what to do.
I'm a roughy-toughy Pharaoh.
Why won?t my gods come through?

Plagues

(To the tune of "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain")

Bad things will come to Egypt, don't you know?
Bad things will come to Egypt, don't you know?
Bad things will come to Egypt,
Bad things will come to Egypt,
Bad things will come to Egypt, till we go

God will give you this last chance to let us go;
God will give you this last chance to let us go;
As midnight passes by
All your firstborn sons will die;
And your people will cry out if we can't go.

Our Passover Things

(To be sung to the tune of "My Favorite Things" from the "Sound of Music")

Cleaning and cooking and so many dishes
Out with the chametz, no pasta, no knishes
Fish that's gefilted, horseradish that stings
These are a few of our Passover things.

Matzah and karpas and chopped up charoset
Shankbones and kiddish and yiddish neuroses
Tante who kvetches and uncle who sings
These are a few of our Passover things.

Motzi and moror and trouble with Pharaohs
Famines and locusts and slaves with wheelbarrows
Matzah balls floating and eggshell that clings
These are a few of our Passover things.

When the plagues strike
When the lice bite
When we're feeling sad
We simply remember our Passover things
And then we don't feel so bad.

Let My People Go

When Israel was in Egypt land
Let My People go
Oppressed so hard they could not stand
Let My People go.
Go down, Moses
Way down in Egypt land
Tell old Pharaoh
To Let My People go.

It Made Them Mad

(To the tune of "Clementine")

It made them mad to hear the answer
Pharaoh would not let them go.
God would help them with a signal
Mighty power God would show.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no
That was all that Pharaoh said.
With no way to beat his army,
They would change his mind instead.

Every time bad things got started
He would almost let them go;
But as soon as things got better,
He would switch and tell them NO! (shout "no!")

When the tenth plague scared old Pharaoh,
He'd no longer let them stay.
"Get out of Egypt," he fin'lly shouted.
"Take your stuff and go away."

With their cattle and some matzah
Jews were fin'lly on their way.
Through the Red Sea and hot Sinai
To their own God they could pray.

Tonight

(To the tune of "Tonight," from West Side Story, By Rabbi Dan Liben Passover,
2000)

The tale's not new
And yet it still rings true
It gives meaning to being a Jew!

Egyptian masters they did beat us
But Moses he did lead us
From darkness into light;

And soon we'll know
Why God did make it so
On this Saaaay-der night!

The Ballad of Mo Amramson

(sung to the tune of "The Ballad of Jed Clampett")

Come and listen to a story 'bout a man named Mo,
His people they were slaves to the evil Pharoah,
Until one day he was lookin' at a bush,
And he heard the voice of God, though he wasn't a lush---
The LORD, that is, I AM, The Big G.

Next thing you know, Mo's talkin' to Pharoah,
Mo says, "God said you gotta let my people go!"
But the king says, "No, they always will be slaves to me!"
So God sent down ten big plagues on Pharoah's whole country---
Blood 'n frogs, that is,
Pestilence,
Special effects.

When the first borns died, Pharoah sent the Jews away,
They ran and ate some matzoh on that very happy day,
So now we have our Seder to commemorate that feat---
We drink some wine and talk a lot, we sing and also eat!
Matzoh, that is,
Maror too.
And good food.
Y'all come back now, y'hear!

Haggadah Wash that Man Right out of my Hair

Hagadah wash that man right out of my hair
Because he's full of chometz but he doesn't care.
That it's a custom now to be rid of that snare,
I'll send him on his way.
Haggadah drink my wine and feel real free,
Haggadah eat charosez, matzah and tea,
Haggadah keep the seder, with joy and glee.
I really love that day!!
He doesn't like gefilte fish,
eat it up, eat it up.
He doesn't like the matzah dish
Heat it up, heat it up.
can't wait for him to change-
Hey buddy... (repeat 1st verse).

Morror

(Sung to the tune of "More..")

Morror is the bitterness the world has known,
But in Canada we need not moan.
Morror were the ghettos of across the sea,
But here we habitate a land that's free.

Morror on the table, we are sure and
we're able to look forward to many
types of joy - oh boy-oi-oi-oi...
Morror is the bitter herb upon our plate,
And if we were sober we would palitate
Morror is the answer for the schnorer, who is rich or poorer-
Why can't we love forever .....Morror!

The Eight Nights of Passover

(To the tune of "The Twelve Days")

On the first night of Passover my mother served to me:

a matzo ball in chicken soup

two dipped herbs

three pieces of matzah

four cups of wine

five gefilte fish

six capons baking

seven eggs a boiling

eight briskets roasting

Moses Island

(by Mark Kreditor, sung to the tune of "Gilligan's Island")

Just recline right back and you'll hear a tale,
a tale of dreadfultrip.
That started with ten awful plagues brought onto Egypt,
brought unto Egypt.

The boss he was a Jewish man raised as a Pharaohos son.
Then G-d he did come calling and soon the fun begun,
soon the fun begun.

More blood, such frogs, and all those bugs,
Pharaoh could just barely see.
The Jews were really scoring points and soon they would be free.
and soon they would be free.

They shlepped and shlepped for forty years across a desert land.
He went up to Mt Sinai and a party soon began, a party soon began.
Moses, the Pharaoh too, Aaron and his wife.
Marianne the skipper too here on the desert island.

Don't Sit on the Afikomen

(To the tune of Glory, Glory, Hallelu-kah

My Dad at every Seder breaks a Matza piece in two
And hides the Afikomen half-A game for me and you
Find it, hold it ransom for the Seder isn't through
'till the Afikomen's gone.

Chorus:

Don't sit on the Afikomen.
Don't sit on the Afikomen.
Don't sit on the Afikomen.
Or the Meal will last all night

One year Daddy hid it 'neath a pillow on a chair
But just as I raced over, my Aunt Sophie sat down there
She threw herself upon it - Awful crunching filled the air
And crumbs flew all around

Chorus

There were matza crumbs all over - Oh, it was a messy sight
We swept up all the pieces though it took us half the night
So, if you want your seder ending sooner than dawn's light,
Don't sit on the Afiko-o-men

Chorus

Passover Story

(by Mark Kreditor, sung to the tune of The Brady Bunch)

It's a story, about baby Moses, who came floating
down the river called the Nile
Pharoh's Queen was there just to catch him and so he stayed a while.

Its a story about Jewish builders, who were tired
of building Pyramids. All of them were slaves just
like their Mothers and just like their kids.

Until one day big Moses talked to Big G. That's
G-O-D and that spells Moses's God. He said you
just leave and go to Israel I won't make it hard.

So then Moses asked old Pharoh let my people go.
He said "For Real"!, no Moses never no. So the 10
plagues were brought to Pharoh and he said: Moses go.

Your people can go. Now Moses go. That's the
way Pharohsaid now Moses go.

Moses

(by Mark Kreditor, sung to the tune of The Flintstones)

Moses, he's our Moses he's the man that took us for a tour
Out of, Pharoh's Egypt went the children that he soon would lure

Come sit and eat matzah all week long.
Listen to our prayers and to our songs of Moses
he's our hero
he's a really really good time,
a forty year guy
he's the one that set us free.

Barney Pesach

(by Mark Kreditor, sung to the tune of I Love You, You Love Me)

We are Jews can't you see,
Moses took us out we're free.
With a long long walk from Sinai to Israel,
Charlton Heston's role he'd steal.

A Wish for You

May you have ...
Enough happiness to keep you sweet;
Enough trials to keep you strong;
Enough sorrow to keep you human;
Enough hope to keep you happy;
Enough failure to keep you humble;
Enough success to keep you eager;
Enough friends to give you comfort;
Enough wealth to meet your needs;
Enough faith in yourself to inspire you to do your best,and
Enough determination to make each day better than yesterday.

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Prepared by Serene Victor, National Consultant for Synagogue Education, United
Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, for use by its affiliated congregations.